This class is an exploration of various positions, and how we send the breath into the chest, and into the abdomen (an anatomical impossibility, but a useful image) --sometimes called seesaw breath in other lessons. The recording is edited for this evening (I've taken out the 5 minutes when we were off line), and is posted below in audio only. Meanwhile, here is an explainer video to help you understand a few things that are going on when we breathe, and a few reasons why we would want to do a lesson that takes on the disturbances that many of us have: tightness in the intercostal muscles, for example, or only breathing in the chest or the abdomen. What this class does not do is teach you how to breathe: why? Because Feldenkrais classes give you many experiences to learn within, so that what emerges is an organization that YOU choose. This avoids people mistakenly taking on one way, thinking it is the right way, and adapting that one way to meet all situations. After all, we need many ways to breathe, an many shapes to be in to meet all the demands of our lives. One right way isn't enough. Knowing what is possible, and trying many things, is what feeds our nervous system's bank of choices to choose from, building wise body-minds.

If you would like to revisit the ideas of this lesson, here is an idea: 1. Try the lesson in your bed. 2. Try one position that you remember, and experiment with the seesaw breathing maneuver slowly, then quickly. Hint: avoid arching your back when breathing into your abdomen. If you feel a bit sore in your back, it’s a possibility that you are doing something unnecessary there. Try placing one of your hands behind your low back to feel what is going on as you do that. See if you can soften there. 

The audio for this is on Patreon: Heather Danso Emanuel GCFP | Creating Movement lessons & puzzles for health and wellness | Patreon

"The Nervous System is self-organizing, which means that it does not need to be corrected, but rather fed lots of different options. So it can organize well. So we can organize well. And we do that by sensing the differences and by trying many many ways...."

Use the introductory time to settle (it takes a while to settle into the floor). 

We are process oriented, being here in a resourceful way.... Use this time on the floor to clarify your self-image, be with yourself gently, and approach your learning as a kind and supportive teacher for yourself. 
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Remember to read the How-to
Less is more. If you have any current concerns, or aren't sure on the instructions, try imagining the moves first, and do so little you barely sense movement. 

Direction is always in relationship to you. That means, up, is in relation to your head--lying down, up is towards the wall above your head. In standing, up is towards the ceiling/sky.

Two links, this week, since I paused the recording and restarted. I'll combine them again for you later.

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This begins with an exploration of Brian-the-skeleton and the shoulder. The shoulder is connected to our neck, jaw, ribs, spine, from tailbone to skull. Perhaps this is why so often trauma to the rest of us shows up in the shoulder?

This is a very quiet, one-sided lesson. Feel free to do a small amount, or even explore in bed. 

An exploration based on the Alexander Yanai Awareness Through Movement Lesson 179. How does your breath impact your movement? How does your movement teach you new possibilities? 

We begin already lying on the floor.